Logano Holds Off Teammate To Win Richmond

Joey Logano, forced to start from the rear of the field in Sunday’ Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series after changing transmissions, came on late and went on to get the victory at Richmond International Raceway.

Logano got to the checkered flag .7 seconds ahead of charging Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski, who led 110 of 200 laps.

The victory was the first of the season for Logano. He became the seventh driver to win a Cup race in 2017 and he did it in his 300th career start in the series.

Pretty special win, he said.

“Oh, man, coming from the back, for one, being the 300th start…man, that feels really good,” Logano said, adding that Keselowski had the faster car and was closing big time on him at the end.

“It’s nice to finally get a win.”

“Really what we needed was about 10 more laps,” Keselowski, who was done in by a series of late cautions and pit stops, said. “I wish was the Richmond 410, I’d have taken 500 but it was a really good effort.”

Third was Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing.

Rounding out the top five were Rickey Stenhouse Jr. of Roush Fenway Racing and Kevin Harvick of Stewart-Haas Racing.

For Stenhouse, the top-five was his second of the season. He got it even though the slapped the wall during the race.

“We had to fight hard for this top five,” Stenhouse said. “I made a mistake early. I thought we had a car capable of running in the top five for a majority of the race. I just got loose into turn three and got into the fence. I had to play catch-up for there. I was on the splitter, and I couldn’t run my fastest lap until about lap five or six. As soon as that caution came out I was like, ‘We have to stay out. It worked out for us.”

Logano, who led 25 laps – most of which were near the end of the race – took his final lead with 17 laps to go when he bumped his way past Kyle Larson.